The present disclosure is directed to fitments for flexible containers.
Known are flexible pouches with fitments. A fitment is a rigid pour spout for delivery of flowable material from the flexible pouch. Such pouches are often referred to as “pour-pouches.”
Conventional pour pouches utilize fitments with a large base, typically a canoe-shaped base with ribs. The base is placed between packaging films and heat sealed using specialized heat seal bars which conform to the canoe-shaped base.
Conventional heat sealing processes suffer from inefficiencies. Current heat seal procedures are slow because of the need for precise alignment between the fitment base and the film orientation. Without precise alignment, the sealing ribs have a tendency to shift and lose contact with the films, which leads to film rupture or seal leakage. In addition, current heat sealing processes require careful quality control, imparting additional production costs and additional production time, making rigid fitments prohibitive for some low cost packaging applications.
Despite the slowness of the sealing process and the implementation of quality control measures, seal failure rates can range from 3% to as high as 40% depending on the precision of the seal bars, the packaging film structure, film thickness variation, fitment dimensional precision, fitment material, and fitment design. In high-volume production systems, seal failure rates at even 3% represent a significant loss and can amount to millions of lost units. Seal failures represent not only the loss of the packaging material, but also represent the loss of the contents, since seal failure is typically detected during or after filling.
Therefore, the art recognizes the need for improved fitments that avoid, or reduce, the occurrence of seal failures in the production of flexible pour pouches.